Manufacture of livestock feeds



Een., 4, i928.

' c. R. MAEE MANUFACTURE oF LIVE STOCK FEEDS Filed Sept. 23, 1925 2Sheets-Sheet l f INVENTOR BY I j l ATTORNEYS Dm., 4, ma.

c. R. MAEEE MANUFCTURE OF LIVE STOCK FEEDS' Fil'dSept. 25. 1925 2Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR M ,a web BY WW/5 ATTORNEYS iiNiT'ED adatticmanns n. man, or BUFFALO, NEW Yonx, AssIeNon To MABEE rATEN'rs con-PonATroN, or DovEIaDELAWAnE, A conrpnafrron or DELAWARE.

. manumcrunn" or a LIVESTOCK FEEDS.

Application mea 'september as, 192s. serial No. 58,125.

the preparationof such feeds.

An object' of the invention is to provide a simple and eiiicient methodof preparing farm roughage for use as a f'eedlng'material.

Another object is to provlde an `improved method for the production ofan appetizing,

nourishin and v easily digested feed fermentatlon of farm roughage.

Still another object is to provide an innproved 'form of apparatus`whereby farm' .by the,

roughage maybe readily and economically whereby the treated 20 removedfor feedin converted into a desirable feeding material A more specificobject is the provlsion of means. in connection ywith such apparatusroughage may be readily- Other objects of le invention will in part beobvious and will in part appear hereinafter. The invention accordinglycomprises the several steps andthe relation and order'of one J? or moreof such steps with respect to each of the others, and the apparatus`embodyin feavtures of construction, combinations o elements andarrangement' of arts `which are adapted to effect such steps; a l asexemplified in the following detailed disclosure, and the scope of theapplication of which will be indiv cated in the claims.

For a fuller understanding of the4 nature and objects of the inventionreference should be had to the following detailed description taken inconnection with the accompanying drawing, in which: Fig. l is a sideelevation of one type of conversion apparatus exemplifying the inventionwith portions of the apparatus brok-en away;

Fig. 2 isa view taken at right angles to. Fig. 1 and showing a portionof the apparatus on, an enlarged scale; f l

Fig. 3 isa section of a portion of the apparatus taken along the line 33 in the direction lof the arrows in .,1; i

Fig. 4 is a detail Ivi illustratlng on a large Scale certain of the mebers of the apparatus;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line 5 5 in the direction ofthe arrows of Fig.

; zert'ain parts of the apparatus being omit 6 is a detail, partlysectional, View illustrating other portions of the apparatus;

Flg. 7 is an elevation taken at right angles -to Fig. 1 and withportions of the apparatus broken away to reveal an alternate form of'one portion of the apparatus;

Fig. 8 isa sectional view vtaken along the line 8-8 of Fig. 7. lTheinventioncontemplatessub'eating farm roughage such as hay, straw,fodder, clover, vines,'and the like to a conversion treatment wherebythere may be produced a comparatively appetizing nourishing and easilydigested live stock feed, and embracesa method and apparatus whereb 'dry4farm roughage may be treated to pro ucesuch a feed at or near the pointof consumption. To this end there is provided a conversionreceptacle orcontainer 10 which, in the present instance is open at bothits ends andextends downwardly from a mow iioor 11 to avplane positioned asubstantial distance above a'lower floor 12,

the container being supported upon the latter' floor bymeans of aplurality of standards I3.

It will be understood,'of course, that the container may extenddownwardly tothe feeding floor, in which case an opening for' theremoval of the treated roughage may be provided 'in the wall of thecontainer. The wall of the container '10, as exemplified, is composed ofa plurality of staves 14' bound' together by hoops or bands 15. Inpractice it is desirable to 'maintain a supply of dry roughage upon themow Hoor 11, and to introduce batches of this roughage into theconversion receptacle for'treatment from time to time in l accordancewith the needs of the animals to be fed. The conversion treatment isordinarily facilitated if the roughage is in a4 comminuted state, andthe roughage may 'be coni- .minuted either before it isplaced on the mowl iloor or at any time 'prior toits introduction into thereceptacle.yThe conversion of the roughage may be accomplished by a. fermentativeaction ,of the 'ferments inherent in the roughage either alone or inconjunction with ferments added thereto. Ino'rder to permit the desiredkfermentation toljtakeplace, each the the batch of rougliage may bemoistened to ade-l sired degree either before, during,

treatment.

In the preferred form of operation, liquid from the tank 16 is sprayedupon a massof dry comminuted roughage as the mass is 1ntroduced into thecontainer 10, and the roughage is then packed in any suitable manner, asby tramping, after which additional liquid is s rayed upon the packedmaterial. The

pac ing not only facilitates the absorption of f moisture b the articlesof roughage, but prevents t e ad ed liquid from runnin through the massand assures a thoroug)e permeation thereof. The material may packed, ifdesired, either during or after the spraying of the material 1n thecontainer.

Preferably there is introduced onlyI a suilicient quantity of liquid tomoisten the mass thoroughly without submerging the same. For exampleabout'150 lbs. of liquid may be employed in the preliminary moisteningof 200 pounds of dry roughage, and a second 150 lbs. of li uid sprayedupon the roughage after' it is pac roughage may be either hot or cold,as desired. In any case, a certain amount of heat will be generated bythe conversion action itself, for example, if water at room temperatureis introduced into the roughage, the temperature of the roughage undertreatment willordinarily reachtliedesirabletemperature of about 135 F.,after 48 hours, whereas, if the temperature of the water isapproximately 100 F., when introduced, the temperature of the rou hageunder treatment will in many cases reac 135 at the end of a 24 hour.period. It willof course be appreciated that referred conversiontemperatures and the time of treatment will varyin accordance with thenature of the materials employed.

The 'packed material is held in the container a sufficient length oftime to allow the ferments -to work and to permit the farm roughafge toVbe converted to the desired extent a ter which it may be withdrawn frombase, of the container. Both because of thel acking and of the naturalcohesivencss of t e moistened roughage and because of the Weight of themass of roughage in the container, considerable dilliculty is oftenexperienced in removing the roughage from its position in or adjacentthe base of the conor after its introduction into the conversionreceptacle,

ed. The liquid sprayed upon the' 1,ees,an

tuinen Accordingly, 'in orderto facilitate the removal of the treatedroughage. from this osition there isl provided means for loosen. ing thepacked roughage prior to its removal. In the present instance 'thismeans consists of a lever in'ember includin a bar or pron 18 (Figs. 1and 4) arrange to be extende througanI orifice in either of the uprightssuch as indicated at 19 and 19 in Fig. 1 an at 19 in Fig. 2z and to berocked therein the sides of the orifice serving as aI fulcrum for thelever. If desired, the prong 18 may 4be rovided with a handle, such vasthe pipe inicated at 20, which, in the resent instance,

is fitted over the outer end t ereof. The ex. emplified apparatus alsoincludes means whereby the lateral displacement of the loosened rou hagebeneath the container may be ac com lis ed, so as to permit the roughagein t e container to slide downwardly therethrough, which means consistin the present instance of a cablelin the form of a chain 21 attached atone end to one of the standards 13, as indicated at 22, and having` itsother end attached to a cable 23 which is arranged to be woundupon acylinder 24 as the saine is rotated vby a handle 25.' If desired,sultable gearing may be provided to increase the force exerted upon theside of the treated roughage by a given movement of a handle such as 25.A' suitable gear reduction for this purpose is a reduction of 7 or 8to 1. If desired, of course, the cable instead of being attached to astationary member as at 22, may be looped about the-material to bedisplaced and may be connected to a member such as the cable 23 at bothits ends. In order to increase the pressure surface of the chain 21,there may be wrapped about a portion of the same a strip` 26, of leatheror other suitable material. or `the purpose of avoiding the necessity ofa further transportation ofthe roughage after it has been laterallydisplaced, as by the chain 21, a feeding trough or man ger 27 may beprovided adjacent the base of the container. In the present instancesuch llo a trough is formed by a circula-r wall 28,

and which is equipped with a plurality of' uprights 29 (Fig. 1) wherebyseparate portions of the trough 28 may be set off for individualanimals. yAs will be seen from Fig.

5, these uprights are preferably so placed as not to interfere with themovements of the lever 18.

v As portions of one batch of treated roughage are withdrawn from thebase of the receptacle 10, it is often desirable to introduce 'a secondbatch of roughage into the top of thc receptacle so that thelatter/batch maybe fully converted by the time the original batch ofroughage is entirely consumed by the animals. It is' preferable,however, not to vhave batches of roughage at two Stages of n treatmentor 'batchesv of roughage containing di'erent materialslin contact witheach other, andto this end there is provided one or more partitionmembers, such for exam le as'shown at in Figs. 1` and 3 or at 3l in ig.7, which may rest upon the top oi' one vbatch of roughage and may ha'vea second-batch of roughage placed and packedthereupon' andpwhich will emovable througlr the container as vthe treated material is withdrawnfrom theloot'- tom thereof so as to permit all the material in thecontainer to settle downwardly graduf ally. .The partition members arepreferably 'cup shaped so that they will collect any excess liquid inthe upper batch of roughage andprevent it `from seeping downwardly intothe lowerbatch. The partition members are j preferably' made of iiexiblematerial such as tarpaulin so that they may adjust themselves to`someextent to variations in the roughage andv s'o that they may bereadily'withdrawn from the base of thecont'ainer.

l The shape of the separating partitions may vary widely andwill'belargely governed, of course, by the requirements of eachindividual case. In the exemplified apparatus the par.-

tition member 30 is formed with a iiat bot# tom 32 and withsubstantiallyupright sidewalls 33, whereas the partition member 31 isgenerallyl rounded in shape. The construc- .tion of t e'partition member3`0\i's to be preferred inasmuch as it ossesses a somewhat greaterrigidit and o ers some resistance to any force'ten ing to moveit fromitsVupright lposition as the material slides 'downwardly throughthe'container. ln order to prevent access ofair to the material treat-`ment, there may be provided a cover member 34, which mayV also be madeof tarpaulin. 'The cover member34 may beemployed in lconjunction with apartition member such as 30 to form a substantially enclosed conver--sion chamber for the roughage and to prevent drafts therethrough.

In certain cases it is desirable to heat the roughage to a certainextent so as to encourage the action of the ferments, and it may also bedesirable under certain conditionsy ,tointroduce additional moistureinto the roughage after the treatment has progressed to a desired point.With these ends in view,

, there is provided in the present vinstance a pipe 35, extending fromthe tank 16 to the liquid chamber of a water heater or boiler 36,

and formed at 37 with` a T from which extends the pipe r38. Branch pipes-39 and 40 extend from the pipe 38 into the interior of the receptacle10 throughopenings found at 41 and 42 respectively, in the wall thereof.These openings are preferably of somewhat larger diameter than the pipes39 and 40 s'o as to permit these pipes to be readily inserted andwithdrawn, suitable washers such as indicated at 43 being provided toclose these, openings (see Figs. 1 and 6). 'It will be observed fromFig. 1 that in the exemplified ap- Y paratus the openings at 41 and 42may be so disposed that fluid passing through the pipes 39 and 40' williow simultaneously into. upper y and lower batches of materialseparated, partition such as 30. Suitable valve members such as shown at44, 45, 46 and 47 may be provided to close the pipes 35, 38, 39 and 40,respectively. rlhus it will be seen that when all the valves are openfand the heater 36 is in operation the liquid therein may be heated orvaporized yand the hot liquid or steam forced into the interior of themass of material under treatment, or when the valve 44 is closed, liquidfrom the tank 16- may be\ through the pipe connections. The pipe 35,moreover, serves to permit steam or other iiuid heated by the heater36to-be introduced into the tank 16. `By means of theintroduc#l tion ofsteam into the rougliage, while' under L treatment in the. container thetemperature and moisture content of the-roughage can be readily-controlled and the conversion proc` esses encouraged in a simple andexpeditious manner.' l

conducted to the material under treatment Since certain changes incarrying out'the l above process and in the constructions set forth,which emdbodythe invention may be made without departing from its scope,it is intended that all matter lcontained in the above description orshown in the accompanying drawing. shall be interpreted as illus--trative and not in a limiting sense.

AIt is also to be understood that the follow- {ing claims are intendedto cover all of the genericvand fspecic features of the invention hereindescribed, and all statements of the scope of the invention which as amatter of language-might be said tofall therebetween. l

Having kdescribed my invention, what I claim as new and desire to securebyv Letters `Patent is :V

1. The method of producing alive stock feed which includes introducingfarm roughagee into a vertical container arranged to per-` mit thewithdrawal Pof treated roughage fromthe base thereof, packing theroughage and subjecting the same to a conversion 1 treatment, andsubsequently causing the lower portion of said mass to be laterallymoved bodily to a point atfone side of 'the I y Astock feed, thecombination with a vvertical container for farm rou ghage arranged toperimoval, said means including means to loosen the mass of treatedroughage adjacent the basent the container, a cable arranged to beextended about one side of the loosened lower portion ot the roughage,and means associated withv said cable' for causing a lateraldisplacement ot at l: ast a portion of said roughage. Y

4. In apparatus for the preparation of live stock feed, the combinationwith a vertical container arranged for the treatment of a mass of farmroughage, of means to pry apart ortions ot a mass of treated roughagead- ]acent the base ot' the container whereby the lower portion of thecolumnot roughage is loosened to permit the ready removal thereof.

5. Apparatus for the treatment of t'arm roughage including a verticalcontainer having an open lower end, a 'plurality of standards to supportsaid container, a lever arranged to extend into a packed mass ofroughage beneath the container, and means on one of said standards tohold said lever and to provide a ulcrum therefor.

6. In apparatus for the preparation of live stock feeds, the combinationwith a vertical container for farm roughage arranged to permit theremoval of treated roughage at the base thereof, of means to effectuatesuch removal, said means including a cable arranged to be extended-aboutone side of the lower portion of a mass of treated roughage and meansassociated with said cable for causing a lateral dis lacement of atleast a portion of said roug age.

7. Apparatus for the treatment' of farm roughage, including a verticalcontainerhaving an open bottom, a plurality of standards to support saidcontainer and a bar arranged to extend through an orifice in one of saidstandards and into a packed mass of treated roughage beneath saidcontainer and to be operated therein as a lever to loosen the same, anda handle for said bar consistin of a hollow pipe fitted over the outerend o the same.

In testimony whereof I aiix my signature.

' CHARLES R. MABEE.

